Leaving on an extended trip tomorrow with my 2013 Honda CR-V following closely behind. I have pulled it a total of 8 miles from the shop that installed my baseplate and readybrute system. I know I need do the pre-tow warm up routine on the CR-V but had couple of questions.Do you redo the pre-tow routine only the next morning or is it necessary after short breaks during the day? Say you stop for an hour or two for lunch.....Do you leave your toad in the tow position overnight or do you do any post tow items like put it back in park, leave it in neutral, run the car?Will be towing up to 2-3 days without needing it most likely.Appreciate all the help. Excited to have a TOAD!!

I can't address your Honda specifically, but with my Silverado truck (4x4) once I am hooked up, with the aux brake connected the only thing I do is disconnect the power to the aux brake system in the truck so it doesn't continue to draw on the truck battery overnight. I do start the truck while doing the brake disconnect and walking around the rig just checking things out and looking for any problems so that the battery will recharge a little. The time running is probably 5-10 minutes and doesn't do a lot for the battery, but every little bit helps avoid any suprise dead batteries when we arrive somewhere where we will be using the truck.

First, you are going to really enjoy the Honda CR-V as a toad. We are on our second one, putting 125,000 miles on the '07 (68,000 miles driving, 57,000 miles towing).We are currently on a trip. For eight days, we have towed the Honda without disconnecting it. I start it every morning and every evening once we arrive at our destination following Honda's recommendations. At night, after warming it up and running through the gears, I put it in park, take out the keys and lock it up.Since we knew we would not be using the toad, we asked for pull-through sites and all has worked out well.We had the accessory cut-off switch installed (on both Honda's) to turn off the Navigation/radio. Without the switch added, you have to pull a fuse which is hard to get to.Just remember to take your time and don't get in a rush. Make sure everything is connected (tow bar, cables, etc.). After running through the gears, make sure to stop in neutral, turn the key back until it stops (accessory position).For the first time, yesterday, for some reason, I put the Honda in park instead of neutral. I always watch the toad as I pull away and noticed the front tires were locked. I think I pulled it about 10 ft. All seems OK.... just a brain burp. Happens when you get old.Over the years, I killed the battery on the '07 once and on the '13 twice (have to remember to turn off that switch). Life goes on.Safe travels,MM.

We have a jeep wrangler. Some aspects of towing may be a little different but for the most part, it is the same...When we stop for a break or gas, we check our jeep. Takes a minute to walk back and look. Over 18K miles, we have had a safety chain come unhooked and the 7 pin come unplugged. Had we not checked, we wouldn't have known of the problem.We both do the pre-check separately, double checking each other's work; sometimes in haste, one can overlook something. We are both capable of hooking and unhooking alone; you just never know when it may be necessary.If we are overnighting in transit, we just leave it alone. There is a greater chance we would forget to redo/undo something than for something to happen while parked.Hope that helps!

With our Vue, we redo the engine warm-up in the morning. Check your manual but believe it can be important and if not necessary, I FEEL better. We can and do sometimes leave the car hooked up. New RV sits nigher and so I simply drop the car end tow bars off before leveling the coach. Again, better safe than really sorry. Saves time as all we have to do is reattach the two two bars in the AM.Happy towing! It will all become easier after a few times towing this one.

Directions from Honda:https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/om/CR0000/CR0000O00176A.pdfYou should run it through the gears each day and each 300 miles.

Pulling my Toad for the First Time!! Couple of questions

fcooper
Explorer
Aug 15, 2015
Regarding the statement
"When you tow, the key must be in the ignition. It would be very easy for someone to steal the car while we are parked and getting lunch at a restaurant."

I have a dummy key with no chip in the key. The car will not crank with this key. To crank the car, I hold the chipped key against the "no chip" key, and it will crank for the warm up routine. I tow with the "no chip" key in the ignition and the doors locked.

Fred
donkeydew
Explorer
Aug 14, 2015
inspect your tow bar and connections at each stop before you pull out .
i have had the pins pulled on the tow bar at a rest area on interstate 5
i now have locks on every one of them. and double check your emergency is off when you hook up
dalerussel
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
We tow a 2014 CRV. We go through the full routine every morning and when we approach 8 hrs in tow. We do not redo it if we stop for an hour for lunch. We have a fusemaster disconnect switch and a brake activation switch (required for our SMI, embedded braking system) that we flip prior to towing. When we park for the night, we put the car in Park, lock it and then start over the next day. We plan to get locks for our tow bar to baseplate connections. When you tow, the key must be in the ignition. It would be very easy for someone to steal the car while we are parked and getting lunch at a restaurant. If I take the transmission out of neutral, iI go through the routine again since the users manual says never go from reverse to neutral.
mfox20
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Thought a little more about the Leaving it Neutral post if you are using your jacks.

Seems like it would be wise to do that to level, then put it in Park. Otherwise someone could (not saying they would) pull your pins and push it back.

Just a thought.....
mfox20
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Thanks Fred..good input.
Pangaea_Ron
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
fcooper

Good thought about leveling while in P. I hadn't considered that.
fcooper
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Good advice above. If you do leave your toad attached, only put it in Park if you are not going to use jacks to level your coach. There will be some forward motion to the toad when the jacks are deployed, and some rearward motion when the coach jacks are retracted. I don't know if this is enough to harm the toad transmission, but I tend to leave mine in Neutral for this reason.
Fred
Pangaea_Ron
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Rwake

I turn my rear view camera on occasionally to make sure that the CR-V is still there. A RV Tech once told me that the monitor can be "etched" with the same view displayed for long periods of time, especially in bright sunlight. That was also the warning for computer monitors. I guess that it makes some sense?

I also put a white band TDC on the steering wheel, that I can see move while turning.
Rwake901
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
We have a 2012 CRV that we tow. Along with what everyone else has said I also visually inspect the tow bar, pins, tires, brake system and safety cables every time we stop for gas or rest stops. I also carry a spare set of pins for the tow bar in case I would loose one or one would get damaged. Also I keep my backup camera on all the time while towing so I can keep an eye on the toad. I've never had an issue (and I hope I never do) but you never know when something could happen..
GMandJM
Explorer
Aug 13, 2015
Sounds like you have it all covered. Safe and happy travels to you!

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